1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for setting profiles stored in a mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) is a smart card inserted and used in a mobile terminal. The UICC stores personal information of a mobile communication subscriber, such as authentication information for network access, phonebook data, and text messages. When the mobile terminal connects to a mobile communication network such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) or Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, the UICC performs subscriber authentication and traffic security key generation to thereby enable secure mobile communication. The UICC may store communication applications including a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), and IP Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM) according to the type of mobile communication network to which the subscriber connects. In addition, the UICC provides a high level security function to install a variety of applications such as electronic wallets, tickets and passports.
A typical UICC is manufactured as a proprietary smart card of a specific mobile network operator according to requests of the mobile network operator. At the time of shipment, such a UICC is pre-embedded with authentication information for access to the corresponding mobile operator network (e.g. USIM application, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and key value (K)). Hence, the mobile network operator receives a manufactured UICC and provides the received UICC to a subscriber, and later, if necessary, performs management of the UICC by installing, modifying and removing an application through Over-The-Air (OTA) programming or the like. After inserting the UICC into a mobile terminal, the subscriber may manipulate the mobile terminal to use network and application services of the corresponding mobile network operator. To change terminals, the subscriber removes the UICC from the existing terminal and inserts it into a new terminal. Hence, the authentication information, the mobile phone number and the phonebook data stored in the UICC may be used in the new terminal.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has defined physical configurations and logical functions of UICCs to maintain worldwide compatibility. The form factor specifying physical configurations has continuously decreased: mini-SIMs (most widely used) were followed by micro-SIMs (introduced several years ago), and nano-SIMs (introduced in recent years). The development of smaller SIM cards has contributed to the development of smaller terminals. However, it is expected that it will be difficult to standardize UICC cards smaller than recently specified nano-SIMs because of the high likelihood of losing a card. It is also expected that it will be difficult to further miniaturize removable UICC cards, because space for card slots is needed in terminals.
Removable UICC cards may be unsuitable for machine-to-machine (M2M) devices, such as smart home appliances, electricity meters, water meters and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, which require access to mobile data networks in various deployment environments without direct human intervention.
To address the above-mentioned problems, it is proposed to embed a secure element that has UICC or similar functions in a mobile terminal at the time of manufacture, in place of a removable UICC. However, such an embedded secure element would be irremovable after being installed in a mobile terminal. Hence, the mobile terminal may be unable to pre-store authentication information for access to a mobile operator network (such as USIM application, IMSI and key value) at the time of manufacture unless the mobile terminal is manufactured as a proprietary terminal of a particular mobile network operator. It would only be possible to configure such authentication information in a mobile terminal after a user who has purchased a mobile terminal subscribes to a mobile network operator.
In addition, unlike an existing UICC card that is manufactured and distributed as a proprietary card of a particular mobile network operator, a new embedded secure element would enable authentication information of various mobile network operators to be installed and managed in a secure and flexible manner when a user who has purchased a corresponding mobile terminal subscribes to a mobile network operator, unsubscribes from a mobile network operator, or changes mobile network operators. According to various usage scenarios such as a purchase of a new terminal, the new embedded secure element would also enable configured authentication information and stored user data to be securely transferred to a new mobile terminal.